For someone who became a mother 23 years ago...

This post is for someone who means a great deal to me in my life... 

• She changed my diapers, fed me and sung me lullabies
  
• She taught me to play 'Dig a dig a ration, my operation'
  
• She was my first friend and confidant
  
• She soothed me when I howled after a fight with my cousin (she still does!)
  
• She was the first confidant and my first ever 'friend'
  
• She was the first one to unfailingly write me letters even if I did not care enough to reply (mind you! I have saved every single gem of what she has ever written to me)
  
• She bought me my first set of junk jewelry against all opposition
  
• She bought me my first matured looking, block-printed kurta
  
• She taught me how to use a face pack 
• She took me to theme parks because I threw 'tantrums'
  

Life was kind enough to me when I got a chance to come close to reciprocating all that she has done for me. That was 5 years ago when I sang her lullabies and today, we are the closest of pals even if I don't talk to her everyday or even month, even if we have grown apart, thanks to her marriage. I know I shall never be able to mother her first-born (due in less than 3 months!) the way she mothered me. But she knows and I now know it too: I love her no less than I love my biological mom and my Chinta Athai... Love you Sunchi... You are indeed a mother to me...